Express REST API Starter (TypeScript + MongoDB)

A professional, production-ready Express.js REST API boilerplate written in TypeScript, using MongoDB (Mongoose), with best practices for structure, testing, CI/CD, and developer experience.

Features

• TypeScript for type safety and modern development
• Express.js for robust REST APIs
• MongoDB with Mongoose ODM
• Modular structure (src/modules) for scalable code
• Async error handling with reusable asyncHandler
• Comprehensive testing with Jest and Supertest
• ESLint and Prettier for code quality and formatting
• Husky pre-commit hooks for lint, test, and build
• GitHub Actions for CI/CD (test, lint, build, coverage)
• Environment variable management with dotenv
• Rate limiting, security, and logging middleware
• Example User module with CRUD endpoints

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd express-rest-api-starter

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Set up environment variables

Copy .env.example to .env and update as needed:

cp env.example .env

4. Start MongoDB

Make sure MongoDB is running locally (default: mongodb://localhost:27017).

5. Run the application

# For development (with hot reload)
npm run dev

# For production build
npm run build
npm start

6. Run tests

npm test

Project Structure

src/
  config/         # Database and app config
  middleware/     # Custom Express middleware
  modules/        # Feature modules (e.g., users)
    users/
      controllers/
      models/
      routes/
      services/
      __tests__/
  routes/         # Main API route aggregator
  utils/          # Reusable utilities (e.g., asyncHandler)
  test/           # Test setup

Example API Endpoints

• GET /api/v1/users - List users
• GET /api/v1/users/:id - Get user by ID
• POST /api/v1/users - Create user
• PUT /api/v1/users/:id - Update user
• DELETE /api/v1/users/:id - Soft delete user

Lint, Format, and Type Check

npm run lint      # Lint code
npm run format    # Format code
npm run type-check # TypeScript type check

Husky Pre-commit Hook

Runs lint, test, and build before every commit to ensure code quality.

GitHub Actions CI/CD

• Runs on push and PR to main/develop
• Lints, type-checks, tests, and builds
• Uploads coverage to Codecov

License

MIT